October 28: Postcards from Germany

Most of this month Jake and I were in Germany, starting with a visit to Tobi in Darmstadt. Jake had a blast, but never listen to your relatives who say it's okay to relax the house rules on vacation. That way leads monsterdom! I'm in the mood to bake, but the whole family is down with a nasty cold.

I've also had the first repair to the scooter. A wire to the brake lights was loose, causing the electronic ignition system to think the brakes weren't engaged, and not start. Good news: I can kick start! I can also ride in and out of the city. I've perfected linear motion, now need to practice turning.

Sept. 26: Compare and contrast

There is a very small possibility that Jake looks like me. (Photo taken by my Dad, scanned by Janine.)

Gena and Lynn will be horrified to know that I think I still have this basket.

Sept. 23: Special delivery

It's here! I scooted up and down our street, unwittingly provoking one neighbors' dog, who was outside. Poor thing kept trying to tell anyone — anyone — who would listen that there was this wierd motorized thing with some bulbous-headed thing controlling it. I'll have to take them one of our last canteloupes as an apology.

No problems riding. I got it up to 20 mph (fastest yet) and kept it under control. The engine is much less powerful than the bikes at the Pa Motorcycle Saftey Course, so I didn't feel it was accelerating too hard. Not being exhausted was a big help. I remembered what I was supposed to do and nailed the slow turns. Tomorrow I'll zip through the back streets, and Thursday I might even ride to Jake's back-to-school night!

I also got a spare helmet for Sarah so that she can ride along. For now, Jake sits on it when it's turned off, the center stand is down and the steering is locked. Sarah won't be riding along until after I return from Germany and get some mad scootr skillz.

No, it's not living in the back yard. It's in the shed. (Story and a half. Jorj might get his second shed yet, or I might spend even more money at Philly Scooters for a cover.)

Sept. 22: Sarah

I haven't written about Sarah yet because, first, she's not my kid and it's not my decision to expose her life to the 'Net; second, she's nearly an adult and it's not my decision to expose her life to the 'Net; and third, the first week was much like a junior-high-school dance, where we all stood around and looked at each other and worried that no one liked us. In other words, that first week was very much like the first week with Tobi, but with extra anxiety about getting her into the local high school, getting her vaccinations up to date, and getting her a physician's visit to allow her to compete in sports.

(Long story short: she's enrolled at the local high school and did not need a second TB vaccination in this country. The experience was so awful for me — unanswered phone calls, transfers to person to person to person, misinformation, misdirection — that I've almost decided to homechool or private school when Jake hits his teen years.)

Now that the first week is long gone, things are great. Jake adores Sarah, and we spend a lot of time keeping him from annoying her (that was an added bit of discomfort to the first week). No, he can't go into her room — nor can he ask to go in five times in three minutes. He has declared her his sister: "I wanted a sister and my mommy and daddy got me one." The kid's pretty sure that all siblings come from the airport. And we're keeping it that way.

Sarah is taking a photography class at school. She and Jorj spent an hour on Kelly Drive photographing sillouhettes and motion shots. It's no coincidence that Jorj has started maintaining his photoblog again. (That and the reduced stress of returning to one full-time position, not two part-time positions at Penn.)

Sarah has also baked with me, and is as excited about Christmas as I am! She asked when I start baking, and was pleased with the answer (Halloween), also pleased that Kipferln will be baked. She loves fruit and vegetables, so we have no more worries of fruit rotting in the fridge. She asked for some carrots to eat "zwischendurch," for snacking. Two pounds of carrots have been reduced to two carrots. In fact, she can't think of a vegetable she doesn't like. I've started asking her to make the salad for dinner if dinner is swamping me. She's taken on loading and unloading the dishwasher (I'm keeping her). She's very willing to help! Right now I want to make sure she's passing her classes and not struggling, and then we might ask her to do more around the house.

She auditioned for the sophomore women's chorus, and we can't wait to go her concert!

(In the photo above, she's reading an English translation of a Henning Mankell crime novel (Kurt Wallander is the detective) that I first read in a German translation.)

This was the right decision.

Sept. 21: In which I spend a whole lot of cash.

After learning to ride a motorcycle in the dregs of Hurricaine Hanna (I know a Hanna, and was insulted on her behalf) and passing my motorcycle license test by the skin of my teeth (I wasn't the worst, but I wasn't in sight of the median, either), I took myself and my credit card down to Philadelphia Scooters in South Philly. Larry showed me some scooters in my price and power range (125 cc/4-stroke engine — hence the need for a motorcycle license — and about $2K, which stretched to $3K). I looked at the very peppy Kymco Agility (recommended by a couple people) and the Sym Fiddle II. Sean gave me a ride on both models, and I decided to buy the Kymco, along with a lock and top rack ("trunk box" to me). All paid up, I walked to the Cantina, where Jorj, Sarah and Jake were just finishing a delicious lunch.

We drove the paperwork to the autotag place (insurance in the back!) and found out that the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania is reviewing the registration of every motorocycle or moped with a VIN beginning with "L". this process takes four to six weeks — and Jorj wanted the scooter a month ago. This one-car life is driving him nuts. Jorj took Jake and Sarah home, and I walked back to the scooter store (it was much further than I thought.)

It turns out the first letter in a VIN is the country of origin, and L means China. Any Kymco cycle would have the same problem. I upgraded to the Sym, which is made in Taiwan. And is more expensive too. But comes in colors. I picked the mint green. One hour and a subway ride later, I was back at the tag place. Half an hour after that, I was registered, tagged and insured.

The scooter arrives Tuesday. I could have driven home on Broad Street, but I didn't trust my skills, so they are delivering.

July & August 2008 January through March, 2009

One-liners about bad UI, Doctor Who, and the rest of my life.

What I'm reading

• Kleine freie Männer, Terry Pratchett, the German translation of his Little Wee Men. I always get a book in Germany. Reading a known author in translation is much easier, although I'm laughing at the puns as I translate them back into English.
• With Jakob: Petzi, Benjamin Blumchen and other children's books and magazines.
• Siddartha, Hesse, original German, only a chapter a night. Hesse is the easiest of the German literary writers.
• Anne Mendelson's Milk. Fantastic. Buy it now.

What I'm listening to

• Der kleine Hobbit, an audiobook of the German translation of the Hobbit. My German is really bad.

Guilty pleasures

• The Closer
• Sleeping in while Jorj takes care of Jake
• Having my hair washed before a hair cut
• LOLCats

I bake too

And sometimes I write about it.